


Universe of Origin

by Chameleon (ponchard)



Series: Good Old-Fashioned Passive Aggressive Discussion [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Academy Era, Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Alien Psychology, Bickering Married Couple, Childhood Friends, Climate Change, Climate Collapse, Climate Grief, Episode: s04e16 The Waters of Mars, Episode: s12e03 Orphan 55, Fixed Points in Time, Friends and Enemies and Lovers, One Shot, Other, Post-Episode: s12e01-02 Spyfall, Post-Episode: s12e03 Orphan 55, Short One Shot, Temporal Paradox, Texting, Timelord Culture, Timelord Psychology, timelords, web of time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:53:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22279720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ponchard/pseuds/Chameleon
Summary: The Master and the Doctor discuss ancient history.Texting one-shot, post-Orphan 55. CW: climate collapse.
Relationships: The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Series: Good Old-Fashioned Passive Aggressive Discussion [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603681
Comments: 6
Kudos: 73





	Universe of Origin

you know, I’m starting to come round

**again?**

earth is lovely this time of century  
*was

**WHEN**

now we’re eager

**WHEN ARE YOU**

except  
you don’t like clues now  
really shouldn’t send you any  
wouldn’t be polite would it

**...you’re lying**

**you’re still trapped  
with your alien friends **

too easy  
told them yet?

**none of your business**

ha! could help you workshop it, you know  
go on  
what’s the story this time

**heard you and graham talking**

course you did  
so which bits went missing

**told them after**

all of it?

**yes, O, I sat them all down in my great time-traveling box and took them out of the timestream for thousands of human years  
told them every last detail **

told them the earth stuff then

**since when have you cared about “earth stuff”**

since creatures are much more interested in their own planets than ours  
honestly, you could *try* blending in sometime  
see where it gets you

**we went to orphan 55**

catch any calendars while they were there

mmmm  
can’t play with them if they’re stocking up tins can you

**they can’t give up**

right, that’s your job

**our job  
when you’re not busy banging out paradoxes **

didn’t steal my own tardis

**the line’s at “mucking up your own timeline” is it  
gold star for you**

  


**has your point changed?**

we still saying it can only be one?

**yeah. seems like cheating otherwise**

done that plenty

**not on the big ones**

<_<

**all right  
was about to say you were right  
but now I’m reconsidering **

mine’s changed anyway  
why’d you change yours?

**it’s the only one that isn’t fiddly**

it’s the fiddliest one, doctor, that’s the whole idea

**no that’s what I mean  
everything’s new  
no picking and choosing what gets to stay **

and no way of knowing what you’ll get  
then that’s your one go, wasted

**wouldn’t actually do it**

just curious

**yeah**

doctor  
  
when are you

**Author's Note:**

> So there’s a really strange facet to Thirteen’s character arc that I want to talk about. 
> 
> Given how fixed points work, the Doctor’s go-to coping strategies may be more productive than they seem. Hiding/forgetting/lying about events increases their chances of staying in flux. This isn’t a case of “if I forget this event, it’s _like_ it never happened.” In a world with time travel, if enough people forget an event (where “forgetting” includes losing any material advantages/disadvantages they might have gained), you could **literally** go back and make it never happen. 
> 
> Because of this, healthy trauma processing may look very different for a timelord than it does for a human. Acknowledging the past is quantifiably bad for Thirteen, in a way that it wouldn’t be for non-time travellers.
> 
> -
> 
> Thanks for reading! Love any comments and kudos that show up in my inbox. <3


End file.
